RE: Judge Blocks Parts of Arizona Law, But Issue Looms On (pub. July 29, 2010)
I agree that, despite Arizona specifically forbidding racial profiling, there are no guarantees that racially-motivated arrests could not occur. Of course, that could happen with the enforcement of any law. How do you know that your last speeding ticket wasn’t because of your skin color? With this logic, we should eliminate the enforcement of all laws for fear of racial profiling. Rightly, the federal lawsuit against Arizona made no complaint about speculative racial profiling.
I do not agree, however, that Arizona fanned the flames of discontent. Discontent was already there. Arizona merely brought it back to the front page. I also disagree that most Americans demand “immigration reform,” if by that you mean legalization. Reading the polls closely, you see that most Americans actually demand border security first and foremost. Then they are willing to discuss legalization. Pretending otherwise is whistling in the dark. I also do not agree that most Americans blame illegal immigrants for this problem. Everyone I know agrees that they would immigrate illegally, too, if left no other choice. Most Americans really blame the governments of the United States and Mexico.
The U.S. government is guilty of a massive failure to do its job. The Mexican government is guilty of massive hypocrisy and, despite great wealth (Mexico has more billionaires than most other countries on earth), massive neglect of its people.
Gary Thornton
Montebello
Re: Union Pacific Neighborhood Traffic Study (pub. July 15, 2010)
Thank you for your excellent and detailed article about the Union Pacific residents who are struggling to make their streets safer. You referenced East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice, a valuable community nonprofit that Liberty Hill supports.
Rebecca Rona-Tuttle
Liberty Hills -Los Angeles
